[ih] bits, was bytes [Re: "network unix"]

[johnl at iecc.com (John Levine)]

>The size of a bit has stayed fairly constant.
>So has the number of bits in a bit.

Depends how far back you go.  According to my handy IBM 650 manual,
each digit was represented in bi-quinary, where there was one group
with five, uh, bit like things representing 0-4 and another group with
two things representing 0 and 5.  Error checking logic checked that
exactly one thing in each group was on.

So they were sort of like bits, but not really.

Helpfully,
John